begins to feel discouraged, he must be busy. She looks at the dried blood on her thumb and frowns. "I need to take care of this anyway."

just not ran into her yet.

heads to her house, frowning at the setting sun and growing dark. She turns a corner and walks through the neighborhood, paying attention_

to the blood still slowly seeping from her thumb.

spots her and waves to her, having gone grocery shopping.

catches sight of the waving figure in the distance and realizes it's the one she's looking for. She waves back and hurries to catch up with_

him. "Ludwig! I hoped I would find you." She held her bleeding thumb with her other hand. "Could I bother you, to use your handkerchief_

if you have one?"

spots the blood and quickly fishes out his handkerchief from his pocket, holding it out to her. "What happened?"

"I was in the park, enjoying the flowers. A very pale young man wearing glasses came out of the shadows and began to talk to me. We were_

admiring the roses and I pricked my finger on a thorn. He acted very strange after that. His eyes were blue, but when I looked at them_

again, they had changed colors. He ran away from me after that. He seemed ... frustrated."

doesn't like what he heard and quickly goes to her side. "Hurry inside," he tells her quietly. "In case you were followed."

"Followed?" she looks up at Ludwig with a worried frown, but does as she's told, wrapping his handkerchief around her thumb.

make sure she's safe and walks her to her front door, holding his groceries close in one arm, his other hand reaching for his gun.

reaches for her door key, unlocking the front door and opening it. "Thank you, would you like to come in for a moment? After what you_

told me last night, I now have questions about that young man I met in the park."

nods, looking over his shoulder. "I'll tell you what I know to the best of my knowledge."

walks into her living room and holds the door open for him. "I appreciate it. He seemed so nice, until he saw the blood ..."

steps inside and closes the door. setting his groceries next to the doorway. "It may have been a demon."

stares at him. " A demon?" Rubs her forehead." He was standing in the shade under the trees. He seemed to be avoiding the sunlight. I_

managed to get him out into the sun, but he acted nervous about that. Then we were looking at the roses and I cut my thumb. Ludwig, he _

never looked at my face after that, he only stared at the blood."

sighs when he hears the details. "Vampire," he mutters, pushing his hair back nervously.

's eyes get wide when she hears him say the word. "Ludwig, when he looked at my thumb ... he licked his lips."

steps towards her and pulls out a bandage from his coat, wrapping it around her finger. "I told you to be careful."

"I know you did." She watches him put on the bandage. "But he didn't try to bite me, the opposite happened. He ran away, rather fast too."

rubs the bridge of his nose. "Maybe he is a new vampire, or didn't want to get caught doing something in the day time."

"I was lucky then. He didn't bite me. Can I offer you something to drink?" She asks him as she takes a glass out of the cupboard. "I _

thought they attacked at night, this vampire was out during the day." Tilts her head at him.

nods. "I would like a drink." He leans agains the wall. "They can stay in the sun for a bit, but it normally makes them nervous."

"He did act very nervous." she pours two glasses of lemonade, gives one to Ludwig. "I had to tug on his arm to coax him out from under_

the trees."

takes a sip of the lemonade, it was pretty good. "Stay out of the shadows, next time."

"He called out to me from there, so I joined him under the tree." Sips her lemonade. "He seemed very nice, except he was very pale, and_

looked like he hadn't eaten in ages."

Natalia won't do something like that again as he sighs. "Do not be fooled by them."

decides to try and lighten the mood with a joke. "if they all run away from me instead of bite me, I should be safe enough." She takes_

another sip of lemonade.

blinks a few times. "Run away from you?"

"Yes, I was bleeding, his mouth was inches away from my thumb, and he turned around and ran away from me. Maybe I'm not appetizing?"

shakes his head. "That is not the case, I assure you."

"I'll soak the blood out of your handkerchief and return it to you after it's washed." She sips her drink. "I'm suddenly very tired, like_

all my energy was drained from me.

"

understands and stands straight, finishing the drink and setting the glass on the table. "I'll walk myself out. I hope you have a good night

"You too Ludwig, don't worry ... I plan on staying home this evening."